


After The War

by Theseastar



Series: After The War [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Longing, No It's Really Cute, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family, Tony Owns A Farm, change, steve has a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-07 18:35:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6819439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theseastar/pseuds/Theseastar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve looks on from afar, falls in love and searches for forgiveness.</p><p> </p><p>Pre-Darcy Lewis/ Steve Rogers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> So at the end of Civil War, the only thing I wanted for was a little closure for Steve and Tony, because I felt at the end genuinely sad for Tony, who you could tell was just trying to make things right and do the right thing. So here is my take, with a twist of romance.

The image of Tony Stark’s daughter collapsing in the hospital was one of the first things he’d seen after coming up from underground. It had been seven months, seven solid months of hiding out in Wakanda, in the underground with T’Challa – and while that was luxury, the luxury of a prince, there was nothing like the luxury of Tony Stark. It was hard not to compare. But after three months, Pepper Potts had gone to the U.N. and shredded with her lawyers, the so-called Sokovia Accords, were a thing of the past. But while that was gone, the weight of them off their shoulders, and weight it was, there was still an element of something missing. Something not there. They had followed Steve of course, after he had broken them out of prison they had made themselves (Minus the kid in the red spandex and Vision, who would dutifully follow Tony Stark into the pits of hell) comfortable in the comforts of Wakanda. Bucky came up for air a couple times a week, helping to locate Hydra bases, and knocking them out before the police could come to arrest them again. But after seven months of this, they were free to do as they did again, while the public eyed them with a little more scrutitanty than what they would have liked, it worked.

New York City beaconed them again, and with the funding of Wakanda and it’s prince they made a home in the new SHIELD facility. But things were never the same. There was a difference in the air, a stiffness that couldn’t be sown no matter how many laughs Sam could push out of people. Bucky was Bucky, and there was no part of the situation that Steve would have changed if it meant getting his friend back, however, the unintended consequences came later. The weight of James Rhodes was often thought about, Sam in particular took this hard. A fellow airman, pilot, seeing one down. Was hard, keeping an ear to the ground for information was just as hard. They didn’t hear anything about Tony Stark, who was perhaps sitting in his re-invented tower all alone. All alone with Vision, which was quite like being alone. But some reports had slipped through, and since Pepper had come and swept up the mess, he assumed they were off of their ‘break’.

Seven months under ground, another three converting to the Shield facility and dealing with fallout, and the video came. It was over the news, CNN or FOX or something along those lines. But it was there, Tony Stark’s daughter collapsing in a hospital room in grief, her father, having had a heart attack ( _Natasha remembered so keenly, ‘my left arm, it’s numb, is that normal?’_ ) her uncle, paralyzed for life, and the only person to comfort her was the voice that had just gotten the body. Her car, a bright red beetle, pulling into the hospital at a screech and her running in, nurses trying to catch the back of her shirt as she flew past, not stopping to glance in their direction, and then collapsing, into the arms of Pepper Potts, who stood in sweatpants and a MIT T-shirt, looking haggard and sick. And for the first time in a long time, he allowed himself to think of Tony Stark.

Their friendship hadnt ended the way he wanted it to, and he knew he could have handled it better. There was a moment before he went to sleep every night when the words bound around in his head like a boomerang, (“ _He’s my friend” “So was I.”)_ Things had been left so unsettled, and the residing guilt of taking more than 90% of the team, hiding the cause of death of his parents and now this – causing his oncoming heartattack reared it’s ugly head every night before he went to sleep. There were so many other things he had to apologize for ( _Natasha, sorry for making you chose.) (Sharon, sorry for kissing you, I shouldn’t have, I took advantage of your kindness) (Sam, sorry for dragging you into it.) (Rhodes, sorry for your legs, your life, so so goddamn sorry)_ and now this.

Steve had known Tony had a daughter, it was public knowledge, but she wasn’t a public figure. She spent most of her life out of the limelight. But she hadn’t come to mind when he was pummeling her father with the tight edge of his shield. But there she was, and she was beautiful _(Don’t think of that Steve._ ) She was wild and beautiful, and she was scared for her father, for his life. As she should be. But here she was, a component in the equation that he didn’t factor in. And then, it appeared that she was there to stay.

_** Gone Girl! Tony Stark’s estranged daughter, Darcy Lewis-Stark, came to the aid of her father today. His last day, it appeared in the hospital as he left today media frenzy, and she by his side along with long time partner Virginia Potts, who was also looking a little worse for wear. They were pushed into a car and catapulted out of the scene and taken to a private airstrip, a little family vacation is in the wake! Well deserved, don’t you think, Diane?_

_Tony Stark in Stark Tower no more! Tony Stark has purchased a house in upstate New York, it’s a beautiful 5 level, home. Made of brick and stone and over a hundred years old. Since the fallout of the Avengers the usually boisterous Stark has kept a low profile. We learned earlier in the week that his daughter, Darcy Lewis-Stark (@DLSS – we’ve got her twitter!) has graduated from University. Taking with her a Masters in mechanical engineering, a Bachelors in Women’s and Gendered Studies and a degree, business. Looks like she’s all suited to take over the family name. We still haven’t seen a lot of papa Stark, however Potts and Lewis have been spotted in the local farmers market, enjoying some quality girl time! Good for them!_

_** Darcy Lewis-Stark is home to stay! Her Instagram became unlocked this morning and we got a look into the everyday life of a Stark! Spoiler alert: Lots of coffee and doughnuts_.

She became, for a while, a binding part in his life. Her instagram, which he had caught Natasha and Wanda looking at a time or two, became a day to day with him, she was beautiful, just as beautiful as the first time he saw her. With bright red lips, bright blue eyes and a big Stark smug smile. After the fog had cleared, a few things had become crystal to Steve. One was that perhaps he had been a little selfish in his reasoning all those months ago, perhaps he hadn’t been able to be objective. But he had fought for freedom, and while that was freedom for him, maybe it wasn’t freedom for other people. The destruction they caused did deserve the intense stare down they had gotten all those months ago. Not a day went by that he didn’t click open the search button on the internet and type in Stark, inched over to News and read on what she had done that day if anything had come to public. Either way, he knew there was no chance of them ever meeting, of them ever having a chance, and for some reason, that broke his heart.


	2. Interview With a Superhero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark's Sanctuary for Superhero's

After The War

Chapter Two

Indigo Magazine – December 1st

Interview With A Superhero

_Tony Stark lives on a farm. I, of course, didn’t believe it until I pulled up to this farm. It stands three stories high, with two plunging basements. I’m greeted by a purple man at the door. Now, disclaimer, although we live in the age of aliens falling from the sky, and full cities rising up off the ground and giant aircrafts falling out of the sky, there is nothing on this planet that could prepare you for a levitating purple man taking you inside and offering you one of their ‘juicy oranges’ he informs me that the Orange Tree’s had come to full fruitation, although the oranges and mandarins were on the small size, they were plenty and they were sweet._

_Before coming to this interview, I watched and read as many interviews with Tony Stark as I could, so I had almost familiarized myself with his space, which was usually a combination of leather, glass and steel, the inside of this home is nothing like that. Made up of plush carpets, dark maroon and plumb colored walls, dark hardwood floors, a large TV and plenty of technology but it didn’t overtake the space, it added to it. Sitting on the couch with his leg wrapped in a writhing, whirring machine, was Colonel James Rhodes, who was previously thought paralyzed but walked across the stage with Pepper Potts last fall to announce Stark Industries latest line of things, affordable (we’re talking under a hundred dollars) Fully replenshable prosthetics. They were revolutionary, and hitting the market of veterans, (who got them for free) hard. This was the new and improved Tony Stark, the one that people were calling Post-Avengers Tony Stark. I am led by the ‘man’ Vision, I put man in quotation points because when I greet him with my customary ‘Hey, Man!” He solidly tells me that he is not a man. Colonel Rhodes greets me happily, he is watching a movie, something with Sylvester Stallone, and there is a dog at his feet – the first of many for me to meet, a golden brown runt. He tells me Darcy is in the kitchen and she’ll take me around the ‘farm.’_

_Another disclaimer, I had no idea, like 50% of the population, that Tony Stark had any children until the Avengers fell apart those long months ago. Until the video of her screaming for her father in an emergency room came to light. So when I see her there, in the kitchen in a pair of thin blue jeans, red working boots and a ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ T-shirt on, I’m kind of surprised. You see, as I will learn during this interview that will take place in the span of a one day, is that you never believe anything, until you see it with your own eyes. She greets me with a big, gap-toothed smile, and familiar Stark glitter in her eye. She compliments me on my ‘work clothes’ as I was instructed to come in clothes I didn’t mind getting dirty, and then a change of clothes or two. She leads me outside to a row of things that look like updated golf carts, we get in, type in a code and hit the farm._

_Now when I say Stark lived on a farm, I know you pictured a mostly desolate unused land, with fruit trees here and there, let me tell you, that’s not what this is. It is a veritable pantheon of farms. The first patches are melons and ‘big fruits’ pumpkins, squash, melons, and the biggest tomatoes you’ve ever seen, after that they have rows and rows of vegetables, surely enough to provide for them all year. Rows and rows of tall glittering corn, a mile of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Another mile of fruit, grape vines, fruit trees and little pineapple nubs sticking out of the ground. Strawberry’s bright against the ground. It smells wonderful, all the bright colors and vibrant smells. They have animals too, a little pasture of miniature goats, some cows out in a field, a couple of lama’s, a barn full of chickens and what seems like a thousand dogs. I’m later told there is only 6 dogs, but there definitely feels like more. As we ride past, Darcy Stark informs me of information on the farm._

_“When we first got here we realized the soil wasn’t in good condition” She said, she’s adjusting the hat on her head because the cart apparently has autopilot, soft music is playing and I’m amazed at the technology. “So Tony developed a better soil, and we spread it, mile by mile, it’s amazing. It survives even the winter and everything grows big and healthy.” When I ask if it’s going to be on the market she falters, but not in a bad way. “I don’t know, actually. I think it needs another year trial.” She winks at me._

_She explains to me that they have enough food to last the year, the only things they go to the store for are basics and meat. We meet Tony Stark in a tomato field. Next to it is the herb greenhouse. Because of all the research I did, I had expected him to look well… like Tony Stark, and while it was definitely there, there was something different about this Stark, later when I sit down for tea with Pepper Potts (Insert fan scream here) she tells me that it probably has something to do with peace,_

_“Tony’s naturally a restless soul” She says, “It’s not that he wont sit still, it’s that he cant. Except in this past few years the restlessness has had a more negative tone to it, things were more important than they should have been. When someone is constantly making life altering decisions for the whole entire world, it starts to rub off on you. The farm does him good. It keeps him busy and productive, but he also loves it. He has a chance to take care of something, and he and Darcy really have a good time.”_

_I wasn’t so sure about the relationship between them, I liked to imagine that perhaps it was perfect, who wouldn’t want Tony Stark as a dad, she tells me later though, over pasta sauce, “It wasn’t always easy. He’s a hard person to get along with, but he’s worth it. He’s a good dad, I mean he’s never been like… throw the ball around with you in the yard type, but he’s a good dad. He’s always there, even when you think he’s not.” She tells me that their relationship has prospered since the farm has been up and running. They now have a common interest. The work on the farm is long and tedious and I really don’t have a lot of time to ask questions because they really put me to work. Apparently they have two other workers, but they’re inside working on some stuff in the ‘labs’ I’m both excited and a bit unsteady knowing that he still has a lab._

_The new and improved Tony Stark wasn’t so different. After work we go in and Vision shows me to a room to shower, I’m just as unsettled at seeing him, levitating there staring at me unwavering. I shower off and change into that recommended extra set of clothes, we meet in the kitchen. Where I’m introduced to Virginia “Call me Pepper” Potts. She looks like she always has, but like everything here, healthier. This time, Rhodes is standing with his prosthetic helpers, helping cut tomatoes that we pulled from the vine today. Darcy is making sauce and Ms. Potts is cranking out pasta noodles by hand with just a metal rod that she wraps them around holds for a moment and then lets them go, they fall into perfect spiral shapes. It’s over dinner that I’m given free rein to ask questions. I take a sip of my wine, which is homemade and delicious thank-you-very-much, and look at the table. All the healthy tan faces, I still haven’t met the other two who are apparently still in the lab and will probably come up for dessert, according to Pepper._

_“How has life been .. since then?” I had it all figured out before, of course, I would ask about what was being called the Civil War of the Avengers, and the bombing and the drama, and the big fight. But face to face with the man, well that was all different._

_“It’s been good.” He nodded. And for a moment I thought that was going to be his answer but he continues. “It’s been better. I never pictured myself here obviously.” He snorted into his wine. Pepper gives him a knowing smile and rubs his shoulder._

_“How did you get her? Or why?” I clear my throat, over the tape it is distinctive in the quiet. “I mean … this place, why are you here?” There is more silence._

_“I ask myself that a lot, actually.” He admitted. “It’s not a bad thing it’s just … sometimes, most of the time, things don’t turn out how we think they’re going to. After everything happened, and dust settled you have to ask yourself important questions, like why you do what you do, and if you’re not satisfied doing that, then why are you? Here’s the deal, I’ve spent the last .. what? Almost 9, 10, years being Iron Man, and that’s fine. If I could do that I’d go back to it, if there are people who really and truly need that, then so be it. But I haven’t got to be Tony. What I don’t think the public see’s is the all encompassing battle that it is to do the job of so called super-hero’s and the truth of all that is, we’re not selfless people, most of us aren’t doing it for the greater good, we’re doing it for selfish reasons. Because we have something to make up for, some debt to pay. Mine was simple. My weapons got into the wrong hands, and ruined so, so many lives. There’s nothing I can do to fix that, but for the longest time I tried. It wasn’t a hard decision to come out and live on a farm, the team had spoken, the public had spoken, they wanted a team of superhero’s and I just didn’t know if my heart was in that anymore. If you have to keep questioning your decisions, over and over, how can you be sure that you’re making the right one? Just a thought. So when my daughter, asked me if I wanted to buy a farm, the answer was yes. A resounding hell yes.”_

_I tossed these words in my head, seeming to forget my questions. “How has this improved you as a person, or has it?” I ask. Again, echoing silence. Forks on plates, sips of wine._

_“I don’t know if it has. I’m still a Stark” He smirks over at his daughter. “That’s just the goddamn truth. If I went back, I’d probably make the same decisions, because I think, for me at least personally, it was the best decision. When I signed the accords, I thought and I still think this, that I was making a good decision. If we cannot live with limitations, if we must always break the rules to do what we believe is right in OUR moral code, are we any better than villains? Vigilante’s? Not in my book. And that’s all you can do kid, is live by your book.”_

_Colonel Rhodes interrupts, “I think the point is this, we all did what we thought was right, and that’s all that anyone can ask us to do.” He said._

_“I think something good came of this though.” His daughter says, almost quietly._

_Looking up at me with sheer, strong determined eyes. “I think that we overestimate what we can do, and those that we look up to can do. When in all reality all we can do is what we think is right. All of these hero’s, these people, deserve the same thing. They were all looking to do the same thing, we cant point the finger, all we can do is live our lives the way it plays out.” As it plays out I end up leaving the next morning, we have breakfast of homemade waffles, fruit salad and strong coffee, and they see me off. Before I go a catch a glimpse of the other person, he’s of medium height, with curly loose hair and a gangly build. He gives me a knowing smirk as a back out of the driveway._

_I figure if Doctor Banner, the incredible hulk, can find sanctuary here, then so can anyone._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this!   
> Tell me what you think!


	3. To Prevent,  A Lecture By Tony Stark

After The War

Chapter Three

_Celebrity Spotted! Darcy Lewis-Stark and her designated Uncle Rhodes at a sushi restaurant in upstate New York. She wore a pretty printed dress for what apparently was a birthday party! It is Colonel Rhodes birthday! She wore a yellow Vera Wang tea length gown with a pair of white suede pumps. They had dinner for two and then drove back to the mansion where – later Instagram posts would admit that a party happened!_

_CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Darcy Lewis joined scientist and previous Avenger Dr. Bruce Banner for tea! They met at Chives Tea House at noon on Sunday and sat in there for a few hours at a window seat just having a talk! They left arm and arm and met up with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts and Illumination Restaurant where they enjoyed dinner as a four-some. What a cute little family! It looks like they had ice-cream cake bought from New York’s famous Cake Central bakery, they all looked happy and cheerful in this group family shot. It’s so good to see Tony Stark doing so well isn’t it?_

When the screen came into focus, Tony Stark was pacing up and down the stage at MIT’s performing arts center. He was in a crisp three piece black suit, with a black matte tie. And in Steve’s opinion, he looked good. Better than he had seemed even before their friendship had come to a quick end. He had less grey, less wrinkles and a little smirk on his face, it was familiar and different.

“The last time I was here, I talked to you about project, projects that are supposed to save the world, and make it better.” He paused for a moment, looking out a crowd. “I funded you, and I still will. I still believe in you, but perhaps what I believe in, is a little different now. I have decided, as some would say, as my daughter would say, it is better to stop a bullet, than to put on a bullet proof vest. Funny things happen when you have time to think of big decisions. I have joined together today, not only the Engineering students, but the psychology students and the people in social work, and the police academy and the education students because I feel like we’re owed this. There was a time, where I thought that perhaps evil was boundless and endless, that there is always going to be someone who is in the shadows, and that it is my job to ensure that when they appeared I had to stop them. I have had some change in thoughts on that.”

The auditorium was packed full of listening, students, soaking in the words, and Steve found himself leaning in closer to the screen as well.

“There are three stages to this. I don’t think it’s my job any longer to be the first defense. To come to the call of the Avengers, I did that. And I don’t know If I could do that anymore. I’m at this point, more of a last responder. I believe it’s my job, isn’t it? To come in for clean up, that’s why I develop these prosthetics, that’s why I’m developing this soil, these harder metals, alien cant tip a building if it’s hulk proof, believe me, I’ve tested it.”

A round of chuckles.

“You, you my people, my students, are the first responders. These people, these people who develop these technologies and these ideals for evil, they come to you first. They come to you with a call for help. No one is angry, no one is betrayed, no one is feeling and creating these things with no one noticing. Loki occupied our planet for a year before he struck. For that year he resided in a bunker in Colorado with six people, six people who were not brainwashed. Those six people he picked like cherries because of their darkness, their likeness to him. These are people the people of Gunner, Colorado had gone to school with, had grocery shopped with, worked with, and no one noticed that they were residing in a bunker with a demi-god who was going to send aliens down.” He cleared his throat and took a drink of his water. “I’m not saying this to you because I want you to fear your neighbors, or look at everyone around you with suspicious eyes, that’s not a way to live. But when people come to you, and they have a cry of help in their eyes, or you know they’re suffering, or you know they’re mentally ill, you have a chance. You can stand by, and watch other people wither and deteriorate. Or you can do something. You, the future of America, of the world, have the opportunity to save and capture so many lives and hearts with your inventions and creations. So use them for good, use them to heal the hearts of the broken. But most importantly, hold the door for your neighbor, ask someone how their day is going. Everyone around you is going through a struggle that you’ll never comprehend, so don’t be an asshole.”

Chuckles, Steve even felt his chest rumble in humor, Tony was still Tony. Tony took a moment to continue, he was silent, for a few moments, the audience and Steve waiting in contemplative silence. The camera panned away from his face, but Steve could still see his eyes dart to the left of the stage, where on two chairs sat Pepper and Darcy. Pepper in a black skirt suit, looking healthy and tan and bright. And Darcy, in a print dress that went about mid thigh and a pair of high heels that were made to look like converse sneakers. She looked at her dad like he hung the moon, it pinched Steve in the chest, hard.

“Don’t ever let anyone ever feel like they’re all alone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm going to cut this down to seven chapters because I want to get into the main story of this series, "Tony Stark's Sanctuary for Superhero's" - That's just the starter name but let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anything Marvel related, doesn't belong to me.

After The War

Chapter Four

 

 

 

 

_Celebrity Spotted! Darcy Lewis-Stark is moving on up. She’s been promoted to Creative Director and Manager of R &D, She’s been seen running in an out of Stark Tower, she and Pepper Potts spend three days at Stark Industry a week before they head home and work from home. She’s also been spotted about with her new intern, Peter Parker. They popped into a Diner for a lunch of waffles, and then back to the tower! It’s so good to see them out and about and doing well, isn’t it Diana? Meanwhile the Avengers hit an old Hydra base in China, it makes you wonder if reconciliation between the two groups will ever happen._

 

 

**The Wonderful World of Darcy Lewis**

 

 

I arrive at Stark tower on a Tuesday, that means Darcy Lewis-Stark has been working for two days. I’m shooed up to her office stat, but I’m told she’s not in, she’s in a meeting with coordinators and will be in a while. Outside, the media is camped out. It’s said that Tony Stark is here, in the tower, where he hadn’t been in nearly a year. I was shuffled in like cargo and like everyone I looked toward the sky. Like always there were planes coming and going. Every Monday morning at six sharp a jet pulls up and deposits Ms. Potts and Darcy Lewis, and then Wednesday at 5 o’clock it took off again, dropping them back at home. The sound was loud going in, the jets loud enough to pop your ears. But inside the tower its quiet. The drop me in Darcy Lewis’s office, and tell me strictly ‘wait here.’ And they leave. So I do what all good investigator journalists do, I poke around. The office is both clean and messy at the same time.

The desk is huge, and encompasses a whole lot of space, she’s got three different lamps on it, and on the little cabinet that runs along the wall behind it. There’s two big computers, a writing space. There’s a whole wall made up of color pencils, paint and paint swatches. There is wall art all over the walls, a coffee stand, three chandeliers in varying lengths, it’s all very … Darcy Lewis-Stark. I’m leaned over, and looking at a painting that’s on the wall, it’s the painting of a painting of succulent plants. I’m trying to decipher what the name says in the bottom right corner when I hear her enter behind me, I spin around and try to look like I haven’t been poking around her things.

“It’s a Clarke Commensky, my dad got It for me when I was sixteen. He said it was the only thing I could get close to plant wise that I wouldn’t kill, look at me now!” She gestured to her wall of plants, her big palm tree’s and cactus garden. She totters over to the couch and kicks her shoes off, she’s dressed as I’ve always seen her in the magazines. She’s in a short dress, with tulle, the top of it has a print and five inch suede open toed sling blacks. She looks both professional and just like Tony Stark’s daughter. When you really begin to look at her, like I am right now sitting across from her drinking a cup of coffee, you can see the similarities. She’s got his nose, and his eyes, even though they aren’t the same color. She’s got his lips and his dark, dark hair.

She asks about my family, where I went to college and why I chose journalism. I show her pictures of my wife, and our honeymoon spot, our dogs. For a moment I start to forget I’m supposed to be interviewing her. We sit on the couch for an hour, sipping coffee, and she shows me some of her design ideas for Stark Real Estate. She tells me they’re going to start selling furniture, at least, she wants to. She looks at me mischievously. I begin my questions during hour two, by this time she’s run into the bathroom and changed into sweats and a T-shirt, she’s wearing house shoes, and we’re on cup number three on some of the best coffee I’ve ever had.

“So Tony Stark… what kind of father was he?” I asked. She looks around, not in a bad way, just trying to form words. “He was a good dad. He IS a good dad. He… takes good care of me, he always has. But by the time I met him I was three and he’d straightened up just a little bit. He didn’t want me exposed to parts of his life. The best part about him? He’s always going to understand. When I started to rebel after my mom passed away, there were no questions from him, there was no judgement in his eyes, he was just there. When I dropped out of college, the first time, no judgement. Because he knows, that’s part of being human, mistakes are human.” She said. “I was always worried that he was going to expect more from me than what I could give. I was scared that he was going to say ‘you’re a stark!’ but it was never like that.”

“Last year the Avengers split up, and Ultron hit, do you think that’s changed your father?”

“Definitely, I mean, listen, everything that happens around you affects you, and changes you. Dad was… devastated. After Ultron, I mean. He went to do this thing, that was supposed to improve lives, and it failed. It failed spectacularly. He’s always tried to do the right thing, but a lot of times, when he’s just going through life he realizes these big consequences. Like just running his parents business and he realizes that the weapons are doing awful things. Making Helicarriers for a government agency? They turned out to be Nazi’s… it’s just.. it’s hard. But I think after all of this, he’s better. There’s something healthy about him. I think he’s in a good place, he’s doing something that can’t possibly have a negative outlook that has something to do with him. He’s lived his whole life with the weight of the world on his shoulders, so it must be great to only have to worry about the plumbs coming in!” She gives a big smile.

“The deal is this, everyone has regrets. Everyone… does things that they carry with them for the rest of their lives, that’s not going to change. I know there’s nothing we can do to fix what has already happened. But what we do have to do, is take a moment to live. That’s all life is. Riding the waves, if you’re going to do it, you might as well do things that make you happy. Don’t let regrets in life keep you from chugging forward.” “That’s my girl!” It takes me a moment to realize that in front of me is Tony Stark. In the flesh. In a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He’s holding a bottle of wine, and next to him the intern is shifting back and forth.

“Can we eat now?” He’s whining.

“Yes!” Darcy jumps up to change again. The end of our interview is a blur, because I’m all but pushed out the door as Pepper Potts comes sauntering in _(“Indian Food Mama Pep?”_ )

Weeks later, while I’m typing the article a box comes for me.

Inside are the beans from the coffee that we drank, a bottle of champagne in congratulation for my wedding, and a note, and it says:

_“Dear Mr. Lodges,_

_Thank you for coming to interview me, it was a lovely experience. I’ve thought more and more about two of your questions. The first being that “What was Tony Stark like as a father?” and the answer is far from perfect. But none of our parents are perfect. Tony was … eccentric, and unpredictable, and unreliable. Tony was a good dad, because he knew that you were like play-doh, soft and squishy and impressionable, and if he ever did anything to hurt your feelings, he would do the most to get you to forgive him. He didn’t care what he had to do, to make it right. And that ties me to your last question,_

_“How do you think he changed?” I think he changed, because he no longer feels obligated to make it right. Especially things that he did, because he felt that they were right. A story from my childhood: I was in ballet, and it was my dad’s weekend, and he had to take me, except he never did. And I cried and cried, and he dropped me from the class. He later explained to me, after groveling for my nine year old forgiveness, that he didn’t want me in ballet because the instructor wasn’t good, she was emotionally abusive, always telling us we were fat and the like. And I knew that. The problem wasn’t that my dad pulled me, that was right. He should have, he shouldn’t have had to grovel, a simple apology “I did what I thought was right.” Should do. And that’s what I think of this situation with the Avengers._

_Do I agree about everything that was in the Sokoivan Accords? No. But do I think they were right for the greater good, yes. What are the Avengers if they go out fighting a crime to their own moral compass? Who’s to say what’s right and what to fight for, you are. How does that make them any better than the supposed villains they fight. Every terrorist, is some man’s freedom fighter. So that’s what I think the change in Tony is. I think he’s done pleasing other people, and he’s at this point in time, doing what he thinks is right, with no apology to others._

_And quite frankly, I’m done too._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter! And then to the story, Tony Starks Sanctuary for Superhero's.


	5. The End of the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A letter from Darcy Lewis, to Steve Rogers. Delivered with the nightly pizza.

**After The War**

**Chapter Five**

**The End of the Beginning**

 

 

_Dear Steve Rogers,_

 

_I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of finding you through your regular pizza guy (Pepperoni with extra olives? That’s blasphemy. Those little black devils don’t belong anywhere near a pizza.) I’ve written and re-written this letter a thousand times, and to be honest, It still probably isn’t right. I guess I needed to write this letter to sort my thoughts, about you and about my dad. You want in on a little secret? I wasn’t really close to my dad until what happened with you guys happened. That’s the God’s honest truth. I think my dad has had it in his head, that everything he touched, went to ruin. Only after the Invasion did we really, really start to talk and not just yell at each other. We spent a lifetime not understanding each other. I think that’s a pretty accurate description of your relationship with him too, right? Like you know him, but you only know the frustrating side of him. But part of me is willing to bet that you saw the side of him that I get to see now, the selfless side, the vulnerable side. I have lived a lifetime of wishing things could be black and white, I have lived an existence of watching things be too complicated._

_I think that’s where things got with the two of you. In a lot of ways, Steve Rogers, I like to think that you and I are one in the same. Although we probably couldn’t be different in personality, I think we were both looking for the same thing. And I don’t think we’re ever going to find it. I couldn’t image what it must be like to see Bucky. I mean, we’ve all read about him and you in the history books, but there’s something unreal about the whole thing. But who am I to tell you? I’m sure that like me, running across the street to save my pet turtle when I was four years old, you kind of walked with blinders on, all you wanted was your best friend. And all that I wanted was my turtle. I didn’t seem my mom running after me, I didn’t see her getting hit by the car, I only saw my turtle. The car didn’t kill her, just like Bucky didn’t kill the Avengers. But after the fuss died down, my mom had to go in for a scan, and they found something on her brain. It wasn’t a fracture, or a concussion. It was tumor. If I had never run across the street, for my own selfish desires, my mom never would have discovered her Tumor. I used to think it a curse, but I know if it hadn’t been discovered then it would have killed her sooner. She lived for six more years. Some things happen, because they you have to expose the weak part. You have to take off the first step to see the rotted inside of the basement. I think that’s what happened with you and Dad. I guess I wanted you to know that Dad forgives you, he does. But this has to be a lesson for you._

_Bottom line, Steve Rogers, you acted like a jerk. A selfish jerk. You cannot run about willy nilly doing things to your moral code, and your standard. That doesn’t set you far from the people you fight, who fight for THEIR own cause. I’m not saying you need to stop saving the world, I think though, you need to ask yourself why you keep doing it, and then you need to look at the destruction you leave in your wake. My dad may have forgiven you, but I don’t know if I will. Not that it matters to you, however when you have the time, you should know, you’re welcome to get your Shield and your Friends arm back. We don’t want them._

 

 

Sincerely, Darcy Lewis-Stark

Stark Industries Assistant

CEO Head of Design

Phone (***)897-6565 ex. 4556

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next, chapter one of Tony Stark's Sanctuary for Super Hero's.

**Author's Note:**

> Drop me a note, the first of this series is just a collection of one-shots from Steve, from newspaper articles to tabloids, he meets and gets to know Darcy Lewis, and the man that Tony is becoming. 
> 
> I own Nothing, everything (besides my story) belong to Marvel!


End file.
